Toyota Tacoma owners...

Here is a little bit of info that has been just given to me by two fellow employee's. Toyota is recalling 1998-2005 Tacoma 4x4's due to cheap steel. This recall campaign has just been issued as of last week. Apparently the frames on these trucks have been rusting through just between the cab box and bed and also where the rear springs are connected. Toyota Canada has purchased his truck back from him which is a 2003 4x4 and my other co worker has an appointment for the end of the week but did recieve a letter as well. I urge you all to contact your Toyota dealer to see if your vin is affected. I am from Canada so this might be a territory issue as well since we do use salt in the winter months. I am trying to get my hands on a copy of the recall notice so i can post it. So if you are a second owner of a tacoma and Toyota does not have you on file, a phone call could do you good. Toyota is trying to make this as painless as possible allowing owners to remove aftermarket tires and lifts before surrendering there vehicles and offering top dollar for the trucks as he was offered almost the same price for the truck that he had purchased almost three years ago as used.

My older brother told me about this one. He works at a Toyota dealership, and he told a few of his other friends. One of them actually drove a Tacoma in the generation stated, and he brought it into the dealership and it failed the test, so he got a lot of money for it.

What they do is hit the frame with a hammer and if the hammer goes through the frame, it fails, and you get money.
__________________________________________________________________

And it really is that easy. I do have to update one thing though, it is a recall from 1995 to 2001... not '05 like I previous stated. My bad. What Toyota has decided to do is offer you 1.5times the retail value of the truck according to red book prices. So does anyone have a 95 Toyota 4x4 they want to sell cheap?

Wow, that would be great business right there! Find old Tacoma's, get for cheap and then sell back to Toyota for 1.5 times the money! Now, is this price the used price of the vehicle. If Kelly Blue Book quotes $5,000, would you get $7,500 in return?

Would be freaking awesome! Take my own hammer with me and do a self test before purchase!

I am sure that they will also offer mad discounts to people whose trucks failed the test to try to keep them Toyota.

That is a hard hit. I wonder why Toyota can't build a single truck correctly! I would think that they would be way easier then a car. I also wonder why they would give one skimpy frames when it is a truck!

Judging by ebay, it looks like you can get a pretty penny back. Basically enough money for brand new compact car, or better yet, even another new truck! Can buy yourself a Dodge Ram 4x2 4.7L Manual!
1997 Buick LeSabre 3.8L Auto 120,000miles2003 Mitsubishi Outlander 2.4L Auto 90,000miles

corolla1:I have a 2006 Tacoma so I guess I escape this. Even if I was affected, they are taking care of this in a generous way so I wouldn't care.

From anecdotal reports, if true, many of the owners receiving payment are buying something other than a Toyota. Seriously. If a vehicle you had believed to be bulletproof and ultra durable, a vehicle many Tacoma owners form strong bonds over because of the quality they came to expect from Toyota, had the vehicle purchased back because it is unsafe due to a crap frame, would you consider another one?

Your biggest reasons for purchasing it in the first place, dependability, quality, durability and safety was just flushed down the commode. This is exactly the type of thing which turned off many GM/Ford/Mopar fanatics. Doesn't matter if they're recalled, paid for, given new vehicles or whatever. You have been uprooted from what you knew, fell in love with and depended on for a daily basis. And now you're just given cash, so you can go tell your buddy w/ the Ford and/or Chevy Toyota bought your trusty Tacoma back due to frame rot.

It's called saving face. Many people switched to Toyotas for things like this. So now you are going to show up on the jobsite the next day w/o your Toyota and tell them it was bought back. While the rest of the 'guys' drive home in the their F150/Silverado/Ram, you're hitching a ride and taking the heat that your Tacoma WAS crap after all.

Not to mention, many of these people likely had trucks that were paid off and they fully expected to get another 5-10 years of service from them. Even if given a reasonable amount of money, do you really think all of these people are going to walk over to the Toyota showroom, in these trying economic times and easily say "Sure, sell me another vehicle w/ a $15k loan attached along w/ the money you just gave me. Don't know if I'll have a job next week or not, economy is bad and all. I was depending on that truck to get me by for the next 5 years. But what the heck!? The frame was crap, you just gave me money and I'll buy another one. Maybe I'll simply undercoat this one!!!"

Right. When word gets out about this, I mean really gets out about this, I feel this is damaging. Word of mouth may be bad on this one, especially among truck buyers. Perhaps, many of these people will buy something even more fuel efficient that they can afford w/ the money just given to them so they end up w/o a payment. Perhaps not. Problem is, they already had a Tacoma they liked. Now they don't. Just like GM, Ford and Chrysler found out, all these little things add up and eventually, people move on. I'm not saying this is happening, but you just never know. If it happened to me, I'd reconsider buying that make again, believe me. The frame? On your truck? NO thanks. That's not why people, myself included, buy trucks.

Casey McCall:What happened to your values?Dan Rydell: I find that maintaining them is a lot of work. I take a day off every now and then.Casey McCall: You take a vacation from doing the right thing?Dan Rydell: Yeah. I don't loot storefronts or anything, but once in a while, when I consider the effort it takes to diligently adhere to a moral compass, I take myself out of the lineup and I rest up for the next game.Casey McCall: I swear, you could run for Congress and win.

corolla1:I have a 2006 Tacoma so I guess I escape this. Even if I was affected, they are taking care of this in a generous way so I wouldn't care.

SwampFoxZ71:From anecdotal reports, if true, many of the owners receiving payment are buying something other than a Toyota. Seriously. If a vehicle you had believed to be bulletproof and ultra durable, a vehicle many Tacoma owners form strong bonds over because of the quality they came to expect from Toyota, had the vehicle purchased back because it is unsafe due to a crap frame, would you consider another one?

Your biggest reasons for purchasing it in the first place, dependability, quality, durability and safety was just flushed down the commode. This is exactly the type of thing which turned off many GM/Ford/Mopar fanatics. Doesn't matter if they're recalled, paid for, given new vehicles or whatever. You have been uprooted from what you knew, fell in love with and depended on for a daily basis. And now you're just given cash, so you can go tell your buddy w/ the Ford and/or Chevy Toyota bought your trusty Tacoma back due to frame rot.

It's called saving face. Many people switched to Toyotas for things like this. So now you are going to show up on the jobsite the next day w/o your Toyota and tell them it was bought back. While the rest of the 'guys' drive home in the their F150/Silverado/Ram, you're hitching a ride and taking the heat that your Tacoma WAS crap after all.

Not to mention, many of these people likely had trucks that were paid off and they fully expected to get another 5-10 years of service from them. Even if given a reasonable amount of money, do you really think all of these people are going to walk over to the Toyota showroom, in these trying economic times and easily say "Sure, sell me another vehicle w/ a $15k loan attached along w/ the money you just gave me. Don't know if I'll have a job next week or not, economy is bad and all. I was depending on that truck to get me by for the next 5 years. But what the heck!? The frame was crap, you just gave me money and I'll buy another one. Maybe I'll simply undercoat this one!!!"

Right. When word gets out about this, I mean really gets out about this, I feel this is damaging. Word of mouth may be bad on this one, especially among truck buyers. Perhaps, many of these people will buy something even more fuel efficient that they can afford w/ the money just given to them so they end up w/o a payment. Perhaps not. Problem is, they already had a Tacoma they liked. Now they don't. Just like GM, Ford and Chrysler found out, all these little things add up and eventually, people move on. I'm not saying this is happening, but you just never know. If it happened to me, I'd reconsider buying that make again, believe me. The frame? On your truck? NO thanks. That's not why people, myself included, buy trucks.

I don't recall the Big Three taking care of its customers to the same degree that Toyota is with the Tacoma situation and believe me the Big Three have had plenty of recalls over the years (though Toyota should have handled the Camry oil sludge manner in the same way- maybe they have learned?).

If Toyota sent me a letter telling me to bring my Tacoma in, because they believe my truck has a frame problem and it turned out it did and they gave me a great settlement as an act of goodwill (remember Toyota is doing this voluntarily), I would have no problem buying another Toyota though given the high gas prices I would probably get a Corolla not a truck. If Toyota did to me what they did to Casa, then no I would switch to a different company and never buy another Toyota again.

Regardless of Toyota taking care of the customer, they are not replacing a vehicle for them (meaning if yours was paid off, you now may have to incur a payment again during a troubling economic climate). Secondly, if a vehicle I originally paid top dollar for, bought for quality and durability was determined to be defective and unsafe, I would think twice about spending money on another from that brand. Why? So another one may do the same thing?

I'm not ragging on Toyota, just saying what some people may think and in fact, according to anecdotes I've read, are actually buying other makes.

And your assumption is that the Big 3 never took care of its customers. They may have lacked quality and/or competitive offerings, but handling recalls and correcting problems are things that they did. People got tired of the hassle more than anything and lack of quality/dependability.

No company is perfect and I actually applaud Toyota paying more than book value. But to think they did it to be kind is presumptive. They are doing this to save face, to avoid an embarrassing recall and also to avoid negative PR. It does make good business sense, but it's not necessarily for the customer. It's for Toyota.

If Toyota sent me a letter, or GM sent me a letter, or Jeep sent me a letter and said my frame was crap, bring it in and get money for a vehicle I didn't want to sell and was paid off. I'd be pissed. But that's just me, no matter who sent me the letter.

SwampFoxZ71:Regardless of Toyota taking care of the customer, they are not replacing a vehicle for them (meaning if yours was paid off, you now may have to incur a payment again during a troubling economic climate). Secondly, if a vehicle I originally paid top dollar for, bought for quality and durability was determined to be defective and unsafe, I would think twice about spending money on another from that brand. Why? So another one may do the same thing?

I'm not ragging on Toyota, just saying what some people may think and in fact, according to anecdotes I've read, are actually buying other makes.

And your assumption is that the Big 3 never took care of its customers. They may have lacked quality and/or competitive offerings, but handling recalls and correcting problems are things that they did. People got tired of the hassle more than anything and lack of quality/dependability.

No company is perfect and I actually applaud Toyota paying more than book value. But to think they did it to be kind is presumptive. They are doing this to save face, to avoid an embarrassing recall and also to avoid negative PR. It does make good business sense, but it's not necessarily for the customer. It's for Toyota.

If Toyota sent me a letter, or GM sent me a letter, or Jeep sent me a letter and said my frame was crap, bring it in and get money for a vehicle I didn't want to sell and was paid off. I'd be pissed. But that's just me, no matter who sent me the letter.

I see what you are saying. My assumption about the Big Three was based on my parents experience. They owned GM cars for much of my childhood and they were constantly having problems. The dealer didn't take good care of them and after getting tired of the hassle they went elsewhere. I owned 4 GM cars myself and three of them were not very good and I got a lot of hassle too. I moved on to Toyota and they have taken great care of me. To me if a person buys domestic cars and they are doing great with them, then more power to you. Keep buying them. It's just that my experience with them wasn't so great. It cuts both ways, because there are people like Casa who bought a Toyota and it was a bad experience for him. I don't blame him for not buying another Toyota and I don't rag him on it. He does great with domestics so it makes sense for him to keep supporting them.

SwampFoxZ71:Regardless of Toyota taking care of the customer, they are not replacing a vehicle for them (meaning if yours was paid off, you now may have to incur a payment again during a troubling economic climate). Secondly, if a vehicle I originally paid top dollar for, bought for quality and durability was determined to be defective and unsafe, I would think twice about spending money on another from that brand. Why? So another one may do the same thing?

I'm not ragging on Toyota, just saying what some people may think and in fact, according to anecdotes I've read, are actually buying other makes.

And your assumption is that the Big 3 never took care of its customers. They may have lacked quality and/or competitive offerings, but handling recalls and correcting problems are things that they did. People got tired of the hassle more than anything and lack of quality/dependability.

No company is perfect and I actually applaud Toyota paying more than book value. But to think they did it to be kind is presumptive. They are doing this to save face, to avoid an embarrassing recall and also to avoid negative PR. It does make good business sense, but it's not necessarily for the customer. It's for Toyota.

If Toyota sent me a letter, or GM sent me a letter, or Jeep sent me a letter and said my frame was crap, bring it in and get money for a vehicle I didn't want to sell and was paid off. I'd be pissed. But that's just me, no matter who sent me the letter.

corolla1:I see what you are saying. My assumption about the Big Three was based on my parents experience. They owned GM cars for much of my childhood and they were constantly having problems. The dealer didn't take good care of them and after getting tired of the hassle they went elsewhere. I owned 4 GM cars myself and three of them were not very good and I got a lot of hassle too. I moved on to Toyota and they have taken great care of me. To me if a person buys domestic cars and they are doing great with them, then more power to you. Keep buying them. It's just that my experience with them wasn't so great. It cuts both ways, because there are people like Casa who bought a Toyota and it was a bad experience for him. I don't blame him for not buying another Toyota and I don't rag him on it. He does great with domestics so it makes sense for him to keep supporting them.

my man swampfox and my man corolla, i feel ya'... you two make great points...
----------------------

I like Toyota but there's absolutely no reason for any truck made today to have this problem. I hope their frames are made by an outside company and not inhouse or Toyota has some serious supplier issues.